Alternative Connections

[Leo J Mauler]

On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 16:21:44 -0600 Jonathan Hutchins
<hutchins at tarcanfel.org> writes:
> On Tuesday 09 December 2003 02:49 pm, Leo J Mauler wrote:
> 
> > However, the guy in Costa Rica who has no 
> > access to cable modem broadband nor to DSL 
> > service is unlikely to have access to ISDN either.  
> > Which is why I was talking in terms of the POTS, 
> > not ISDN.
> 
> > Now the primary ISP for Costa Rica (VPM) does 
> > list ISDN as a service...
> 
> Generally you'll find that ISDN had a lot better market 
> penetration outside the U.S. than it did here.  Lots of 
> the FIDO BBSs in Europe used it, because the European 
> Telco's priced it reasonably, while U.S. companies 
> tried to make a killing off of it as a new technology.

I must admit that most of my "dislike" of ISDN stems from 
attitudes expressed by Scott Adams of "Dilbert", having 
never been in the situation where I worked with or could 
afford ISDN for myself.

And by the time I could afford broadband, cable modems 
and DSL were common enough that I didn't even consider 
ISDN.

> One of the problems with getting an ISDN link around 
> here was that you not only had to pay for your own 
> ISDN line, modem, and service, but you usually had 
> to pay your ISP a similar amount, as he had to pretty 
> much dedicate an ISDN line to you.  There were far 
> fewer ISDN users to spread the load on, and they 
> generally wanted a much higher percentage of connect 
> time.
> 
> > doesn't ISDN have the same "your house must be 
> > located close enough to X connection office" 
> > requirement that cable/DSL have?
> 
> It may have some distance limits, but I've never run into 
> them.  I think all you need is two free, non-multiplexed 
> pair of lines.
> 
> At ~128K bidirectional, it's actually a better service than 
> Greg's Cable Modem, so he might want to look into it as 
> an alternative, either at his new "remote" location or at the 
> "base" location where he may eventually connect 
> his wireless link.

At 112K for dual-modem POTS connections, that might be 
his easiest option for his remote location, and almost as good 
as ISDN for the same general pricing (though the upload 
speeds will still suck).

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